The present invention relates generally to a connector used for connecting insulated electric wires to various electrical parts or a printed circuit board, or for interconnecting a plurality set of electrical wires.
A connector with Insulation Displacement Technology Connection (“IDT”) has been widely used for making a permanent electrical interface between a wire and a contact of a connector. In this method, insulated wires are forced into a slot smaller in width than the diameter of the inner conductor of the wire. The sharp thin edges of the slot displace the outer insulation and electrical continuity is secured. The slot of the IDT terminals typically have V or U-shaped slots obtained by punching sheet metal, and the wires and the IDT terminals are connected with each other by press-fitting them together. When press-fitting the wires as described above, the wires are press-fit into the V or U-shaped slot so that the IDT terminals pierce the outer insulations of the wires to bring the inner conductors thereof and the terminals into contact with each other, thereby establishing electrical contact between the terminals and the wires.
In some other types of connectors, it is necessary to perform an insulation removal process using a special tool such as a stripper at the time of connection to the terminals. By using the above-described IDT connectors, there is an advantage in that the insulation removal may be dispensed with.
Incidentally, by merely press-fitting the wire into the slot of the IDT terminal, there is a fear that the wire in the IDT terminal drops off, due to vibrations generated during the use of an apparatus to which the IDT connector is applied, or due to an external force such as a tension generated on the wire.
In order to solve this problem, there are prior arts such as Japanese Utility Model laid-Open Publication No.Sho59-080971. In this prior art, the connector comprises wire pressing means for pressing on the wire, which has been pushed into the slot of the IDT terminal, within the slot in the pushing direction of the wire. According to such a connector, a wire that is about to be press-fitted into the slot of the IDT terminal is further forcibly pressed on by the wire pressing means, thereby preventing the wire from dropping off.
However, with the above connector, the wire is pressed on by the wire pressing means irrespective of the manner in which the wire is inserted in the IDT terminal, for example, even when its position is deviated from the center of the IDT slot. As a result, excessive strain may be exerted on the entire or part of the wire conductor, resulting in a stress concentration. Consequently, there is a fear that one of the following problems occur: a decrease in the sectional area of the conductor occurs which causes an increase in the resistance of the terminal-wire connection; the biased state causes a gap to be produced so that a part of the conductor does not come into contact with the IDT terminal; and due to the breaking of the wire, oxidation occurs due to moisture present in the air, thus reducing durability and causing a variation in the resistance value.
The present invention is therefore directed to a solution of the above-described problems.